Thief makes off with New Mexico 'church on wheels'

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—A brazen thief has made off with a New Mexico pastor's "church on wheels," taking about $40,000 in equipment and dozens of donated toys.

KRQE-TV reports (http://bit.ly/1hxXmMi) the New City Church in Albuquerque is a portable church that uses a trailer to store everything it needs for Sunday services, including speakers, cords and microphones. It has a small office in northeast Albuquerque.

New City Pastor Nate Bush says a man with a red pickup cut the lock on a fenced parking lot Sunday and towed away the church's trailer. He says the trailer was loaded with the church's equipment and supplies, along with toys for an upcoming charity event.

Bush says the trailer and its contents were insured. He says the theft is frustrating and one of the reasons he plans to move New City into a permanent space.